Picked up Issue #3 of the art and visual magazine, Elephant. My favorite feature of this issue is To Live And Die Trying In LA, by Katya Tylevich which includes interviews and work by: Kozyndan, Ed Fella, Eddo Stern, Michael Worthington, Edgar Arceneaux, Rene Daalder and Folkert Gorter.

I have been told that whenever the planet Mercury goes retrograde so do the tools of communication like phones and computers. When it comes to astrology, I’ve always been a little skeptical. I’ll be the first to admit I only believe in the zodiac when it works to my benefit, which I suppose, is very Capricorn of me. After my latest rash of technical problems with email, texts and phones, I’m starting think there may be something to it.

Whether you believe in the Mercury in retro thing or not you take this Capricorn’s practical advice and back it up. When it comes to important files get in the habit of backing up to an external hard drive, burning them to DVD or syncing them to an online service. For online I use Dropbox, also check out Backblaze. Those of you on a Mac who’d like keep track of Mercury can add this widget to your Dashboard.

As for the planet Mercury itself, NASA’s Messenger spacecraft most recent flyby yielded these amazing photographs.

Art will be everywhere: the streets, sidewalks, storefronts, elevators, lobbies, the water, the waterfront, and the parks. Along with the 65 plus new public art projects, over 100 local artists will open their studios to the public and at the new Galapagos Art Space, video_dumbo will feature a non-stop program of video art.

Last year we spent most of our time in the studios on Jay Street, viewing art, meeting artists, running into friends and at the end of the day relaxing with a good brew at ReBar. If you’ve never been to DUMBO, this would be a great time to visit.

This past Monday Muxtape went down. On their site it simply reads “Muxtape will be unavailable for a brief period while we sort out a problem with the RIAA.”

The RIAA‘s position is that Muxtape is hosting content illegally. In a statement regarding the closing of the site the RIAA said, “Muxtape was hosting copies of copyrighted recordings without authorization from the copyright owners. Making recordings available for streaming playback also requires authorization from the copyright owners.”

It’s too bad. The site was a great way to share, learn and listen to new music, we really enjoyed using it. Though, I can’t say that I’m surprised, we’ve all had this conversation before, this is what happens when the music industry meets new technology.

The July 4th weekend sets Summer off in full swing. To experience the best of “free” NYC check our friend and client, Sharon Pendana‘s incredible Free list. Already in it’s 3rd version, the list contains concerts, films and other happenings in the city. Download a copy from her blog, its free!